Mayor's Office

Speed cameras will be installed near 50 Chicago schools and parks in August and the city will begin issuing tickets for violators caught by the cameras in September under an agreement with Arizona-based camera operator American Traffic Solutions; Mayor Rahm Emanuel originally projected $30 million in revenue from speed camera fines this year, but an extended period of contract negotiations caused the city to cut the estimate in half

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Israeli President Shimon Peres attended a signing ceremony for a research agreement between the University of Chicago and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University; Both schools have allocated more than $1 million for the project that is aimed to create nanotechnologies to aid water shortages in dry locations

Mayor Emanuel, along with 17 other mayors, signed a letter to Congress asking legislators to limit the use of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program aid for soda purchases; Letter urges federal legislation not to make cuts to SNAP funding as proposed in a recently defeated version of the farm bill

Chicago Republican Party is requesting an investigation into the electronic billboard deal supported by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and approved by the City Council last year; Chicago GOP spokesman Chris Cleveland accused Emanuel and the entire Democratic City Council of selling the city's assets for short-term cash

Chicago Tribune revealed Mayor Rahm Emanuel received two $5,000 donations from spouses of top executives at System Development Integration, a Chicago-based technology firm seeking to win the city’s red light camera program contract; Emanuel recently returned donations from executives of a different firm and barred the company from bidding on a city marketing contract due to a potential violation of the mayor’s ban on political contributions from people that have or are seeking city contracts

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is asking companies to prepare plans for more digital "street-level" advertising, but has not provided details about what those advertising systems may look like; Eight firms are competing for the municipal advertising contract so far, including outdoor advertising company JCDecaux LLC and mass media giant Clear Channel Outdoor

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on Thursday that the city secured federal funding for its Chicago Riverwalk development and is also eligible to apply for funding that would further an O’Hare airport expansion.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not deny on Tuesday that the Chicago Board of Education may ask state legislators to lift the cap on property tax increases to help CPS alleviate its projected $1 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1; Mayor said he would prefer the district first consider another round of administrative cuts